NCJ Number
177173
Journal
McGeorge Law Review Volume: 30 Issue: 1 Dated: Fall 1998 Pages: 125-166
Date Published
1998
Length
42 pages
Annotation
This Comment proposes that the US Supreme Court establish a qualified First Amendment right for journalists to interview prison inmates.
Abstract
Regulations adopted in 1997 by the California Department of Corrections reversed a 20-year-old policy that allowed reporters to conduct face-to-face interviews with selected inmates. They also removed reporters from the list of persons with whom inmates could correspond confidentially. The Comment outlines the background of the Department's regulations and shows that the restrictions on media access to prisons ignore the practical realities of news gathering. It also discusses the current framework for analyzing speech restrictions in nonpublic forums such as prisons, and explains why a legal challenge to California's regulations probably would fail. Finally, it traces the evolution of the Supreme Court's view of the press, and argues that the reasons supporting a First Amendment right of media access to criminal court proceedings should apply with equal force to prisons. Notes